A Little Bit of This and That

Mac had her guitar presentation in April.  We LOVE Mrs. Koch!!!  Oh my gosh she is amazing.  Of course I started tearing up when the class started playing Unchained Melody, that was one of my mom's favorite songs.  I hate it when those out of nowhere moments come about and you border lining the big time ugly cry.  I just had to stop paying attention and start thinking about my grocery list. :o)

I love my girl soooooo much.  She makes my heart so happy.

Shifting gears...Mac had her dance convention on Mille's b-day.  I brought her along and she had fun hanging out with Mac's friends.  They had a blast swimming.

Mac and her dance friends with Mille Bug.

Jr. Dance Company + Camille(hopefully she'll make company and she will be a Jr Dance Company member!)

Since it was Mille's bday the night before we celebrated it at Rainforest Cafe.  Mille really had so much fun with Jr Company.  she and Jaden had fun hanging out which is cool b/c Jaden's mom and I were best friends growing up.

Love this pic because you can see how happy she is!!!  Not to mention how much she is blushing!!  Look at this pic compared to the one before it.  They sang to her and then made her flap her arms like a chicken.

Yummy dessert!!!

Time to switch gears again!  Mille had a wonderful field trip to The Olive Ranch near Georgetown.  It was so fun and the day could not have been more perfect!  Here she is with her precious friend         Ella Drue.  I love how they are holding hands.

Sorry Mille the sun was right in your big green eyes!  The kids were listening to Mr Danny tell us about  the ranch and he was cooking some yummy fresh green beans!!!

Mille snapping green beans!

Brinley, Ella Drue and Mille enjoying the yummy green beans!  All the kids loved the green beans, kids that didn't like them usually.  They were just fresh green beans cooked in olive oil!

We got to enjoy 2 hay rides!!!!!!

We also listened to a very educated man tell us all about bees.  Very interesting information!!  All  I can say is if I were a bee I hope to be the Queen bee and not a worker bee, yikes!!

We also learned how to make soap.  This sweet lady and her girls were there selling yummy soap. I bought 3 different ones, Cherry Almond, Mint and Golden Sunshine.  They are all made using Olive Ranch olive oil.

Class Picture with Josh one of the owners (it's a family business, such a sweet family!!!)

Sweet friends playing

They were super tired so they took a little cat nap on the ride home!

We've been busy so onto another day...  Ella Drue came over so they could make their Market Day stuff.  The girls made precious Duck Tape headbands, Duck tape bracelets, stress balls and are going to meet again to make chocolate dipped Twinkies or aka Twingles.  I made little aprons for them to wear on the day.  I had been wanting to make these headband holders for my girls so I went ahead and made them so ED and Mille could display their lovely work on them for Market Day.

Stress Balls, Mac was a huge helper and filled the stress balls for the girls!

Last but not least we have BUTTERFLIES!!!  I couldn't for the life of me get a pic of them with open wings!!!  They look like a moth but they have beautiful orange/white/black wings.  We let one go which we then felt very bad about because we didn't know that the sky was going to fall about 10 minutes after we set it free!  We are telling ourselves he found a wonderful place and is Happy Happy Happy!

This butterfly loved Mac's hand and her shirt!

Precious girl, pretty butterfly.

What a great weekend!

WE had a great weekend who couldn't with this awesome weather!!  We went to one of our favorite places, Fossil Rim.  We like to eat at Storybook Cafe before, it's so yummy!  It was a gorgeous day, the girls spent most of the time at FR with their heads out of the sunroof.  That is until we saw these guys.  They eat right out of your hand, so cool.

Hello down there, I'm really tall.

Oh I'll stick my head in to get a better look.

We then went to Dinosaur World all of these fun places are in Glen Rose.  We have really fallen in love with that area.  It's so pretty.  When Mac was 3 she declared she wanted to be a paleontologist.  She still loves dinosaurs and finds them fascinating.  

Mac has been eaten by a T-rex

The girls were just walking and holding hands, my heart was melting.  This is our 2nd time to Dino world, the other was in July or August.  It was MISERABLE!!!  This day was perfect.  The girls would read the info about each dinosaur.  So it was fun being outside, we all got educated and the girls practiced oral reading. Ha, fun and education!

Love these girls!!! I've started calling them Freckles (Mille) and Dimples (Mac)

Mille reading about the dinosaur, man those paleontologists pick hard names!!!

This is craig attempting to act like his own dinosaur.  I was hurting i was laughing so hard.  I would share the name with you but I'm afraid it isn't the nicest of names. Shocker!!

After Dino World we ate at Loco Coyote.  Oh my gosh it was so stinkin good!!!!  Sunday Mac and I had a date!  Mille didn't complete some work so she had to go to work with Craig.  Mac decided to wanted to take Granger to Petco then pick up lunch and have a picnic.  Grang had a fabulous day too.  He got lots of treats and new collar and new bed for the car.  He likes to ride with me to get Mac so he needed a space for himself.  Here are Mac and Grang after we ate Panera Bread.  We are at South Bosque Park, Mac's favorite!!

She's grown all of the things she was too short for are either to small for her or just right.

Grang chilling while Mac plays.

My babies went on a walk around the track.  After this we went to the land and fed the cows. Oh my I love those babies!  Twilight came right up to me and I just fed him and loved on him like he was Granger.  We drove around for a while then picked up mexican food for Cinco de Mayo!

On other news we have 10 caterpillars that have made chrysalises.  It's never boring around here that's for sure.  May is flying by and I don't think it's slowing down anytime soon.

Days like today make me a happy mama!

I wrote this last night, my computer went crazy so it's now posting. Update Mille has tested and passed ALL facts and read another entire book!  Go Mille!
     With Mother's Day just around the corner( this year it falls on my birthday which is an added bonus) it's always nice and refreshing to have a day like today.  As many moms know you spend your days and nights worrying, praying, working with, frustrated, and other adjective you can think of about your kids.  You always pray for a day when you are just proud and happy about your kids and their accomplishments.  Well today was just that and I want to remember it so it's going on my virtual scrapbook.  Honestly I'm proud of my girls every single day.  It doesn't have to be a life changing moment it can be just a simple gesture or kind word.  Today Mac took it upon herself to give her dance teachers an apology letter about dance convention.  Nothing huge happened but let's just say I was disappointed with her and this rarely happens.  They have these auditions for scholarships and the junior company was supposed to try out.  Well most of them did but then they decided they were hungry and the other girls were better or more prepared so they decided to leave and eat lunch.  As soon as Mac saw me she knew it was the wrong thing.  This might not be a huge deal but as a mom I was really disappointed because not only did she follow instead of leave but she also just gave up.  Those aren't characteristics I've taught nor do I want her to learn.  After we talked about it she decided to write a letter to her teachers.  She is such a sweetheart and I'm so proud of her.  She also was taught a great lesson by my dad the other night.  It makes me laugh because I've said it to her before but regardless I'm just glad she listened.  She came home from dance tonight and said, "Mom, you know Grampy said the answer is no until you ask the question? Well tonight Mrs. Liz didn't know how we were going to end our tap dance and even though I was nervous I thought about what Grampy said and I asked Mrs. Liz if I could share how I have been finishing the dance at home. She said to show her so I did and now we are ending the dance like that!  All because I spoke up and asked the question!"  Woohoo a lesson learned!
    Miss Mille also had a great day!  Oh how those make me happy.  Math is very much her forte and she really enjoys doing it.  Well they started taking timed tests on all their multiplication facts.  She came home yesterday having finished all the way to her 6's.  We studied last night and then when I picked her up today all she has left is 12's plus 11 x 12.  This took Mac a couple of weeks to complete and Mille is doing it in 2! I am so proud of her.  She doesn't enjoy reading near as much as math so getting her to read a book is quite challenging to say the least.  She has only met her goal once MAYBE twice this year so I am determined for her to meet it this last 6 weeks.  Tonight she sat down and read all 8 chapters of her book.  I wish I could say it was without pouting or without her reading out loud to me, but at this time I can't.  There were huffs and yes I had to hear her read her book out loud but you know what it was worth it and I'll do it again tomorrow and the next day.  Mille's face when she finished the book and made a 100 on all the facts was one of those priceless faces.  I am so proud of her and I hope she remembers this feeling of accomplishment!
   Oh it's these moments as a mom that you live for.  Not only are your children happy and accomplished but they are learning life's little lessons along the way.  I quickly sent them to bed after all of these things happened because I didn't want anything to ruin the good feeling we all had going tonight!  Being a mom is truly the hardest job in the world but today is an example of why it's worth it 10 million times over.  I'm blessed and I adore being a mama!!!

Fuzzy Friends Delivery

I took the girls to Fuzzy Friends this afternoon to drop off all of the loot that Mille's friends donated instead of presents.  I wish I had taken a pic of all the food and toys, but of course I didn't.  Mille's friends are amazing!  They brought kitten, puppy, cat, and dog food.  They also brought lots of fun toys for cats and dogs.  Mille's picture is on the Fuzzy Friends facebook page which is exciting for a 9 year old.  We also got the chance to play with all the cats.  Oh my gosh I don't know who is a bigger sap when it comes to a room full of cats/kittens me or the girls?  Yikes, Craig was teetering on getting a few extra cats.  We didn't even see the dogs(we're going back to do that next time.)  Fuzzy Friends is an amazing place.  They do not kill or turn away any animal.  Some of the cats they have are 15 1/2 years old and they've had them since they were little.  The girls have decided to set aside allowance money so they can buy more food for the animals.  Honestly I'm going to start buying an extra bag of cat and dog food every week I go to the HEB and then the girls and I will get to take it to the shelter.  Yippee, another excuse to play with animals.

There were several cats that I fell in LOVE with but this little man stole our hearts and LOVES Mille.  His name is Maurice, how cute is that.  He is so loving, he kept coming up to mille and snuggling her.  It was so precious!!  I also fell in love with a cat named Beans.  He is a special needs cat, he has a neurological issue.  He was beautiful and really pulled on my heart strings.  They said he can't get on tall places b/c he will fall.  He doesn't jump or land on his feet like a normal cat.  I could go on and on naming them, literally the girls and I know all their names.  I love how the staff knows them all and talks about them like they're family, which they are.  I kid you not if one of the cats died tomorrow I would go to Fuzzy Friends and buy Maurice.  We actually tricked Craig and said we adopted him.  The girls thought I was just messing with him but really I was testing the waters to see how mad he would be.  Let's just say his face was REALLY pale and I think I could see some sweat.  He wasn't "mad" just really ill.  I must admit it was kind of funny, yes I'm that mean.  If anybody is reading this blog and wants a cat, please go to F.F. you won't leave empty handed.   For now we have plenty of animals, 7 to clarify(3 cats, 2 dogs and 3 fish-do we count the 3 lizards that we talk to outside?) but I kid you not I've got Maurice on the brain!!! Oh my gosh he was precious.